How Much Money Can You Make?

I get asked how much money can you earn in the cleaning business nearly everyday.

I’m not really surprised by that, after all money makes the world go round as they say.

The answer to this question lies in many factors, and I will be unable to touch upon all of them in this post, but I’ll do my best.

This is how the process will work. I’ll provide a few brief case studies here to clue you in on what you could expect to earn from some accounts once you learn the ropes.

Each example listed is from an account that we have currently or have had in our career. To figure out what you would earn you’ll just need to figure out how many cleaning accounts you wish to accumulate. So far this is simple huh?

Before I begin, keep in mind that this is only an overview on the topic. I will not be providing any square footage numbers, contract specs, wage details or other information. That would just complicate things, and I like to keep things simple.

In each case study I’m going to include the account frequency, time it takes to clean each visit and the monthly income. You can draw your own conclusions from there.

In addition to what I just mentioned, keep the following in mind as well…

We’ve been in business for a while and know what to look for.

We have a well thought out and efficient cleaning system.

The cleaning times discussed are AFTER spending a few weeks on the job.

Case study
1 X per week cleaning. 1.25 hours per to clean per visit. We charge $275.00 per month.

The one constant thread that runs through the majority of these case studies is this. We clean the accounts much faster than we originally planned for. This is because of a combination of several factors.

The first one is we work hard to come up with an attack plan that gets us done. Then you need to factor in that some customers are neater than expected, thus reducing our work load.

Next up is the fact that some offices are very dusty, while others never seem to get all that bad. This “dust factor” directly affects the time spent on a given job. Lastly, sometimes I just over estimate how long it will take to clean the facility. The bidding process is not an exact science, so you generally will not be “spot on” all the time.

I think you now have an idea of what you can expect to earn once you get started yourself. By knowing this, it opens your eyes a bit to see what’s possible in this business. It also gives you something to shoot for.

To zero in a little better on what you would like to make in the cleaning business you just need to determine how many accounts you would like to have. To be even more accurate you also need to decide if you will be performing the cleaning, or will your staff handle that.

For some perspective, I peaked at 72 cleaning accounts. Many of these accounts had multiple locations that needed to be cleaned. This kept me quite busy of course. But the great thing about this business is you don’t need all that many accounts to live a nice lifestyle.

While I went all the way to 72 customers, you can have a real nice lifestyle with only 15 to 20 accounts if you choose your customers carefully. Once you get started, you’ll become an expert in no time flat.

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If you need detailed instructions on how to start your own cleaning business, then check out my value packed course by clicking here.

In a nutshell you need to register your business, open a business bank account then get customers. It is those first few customers that foot the bill for your expansion. It’s that easy. The process is laid out completely in my course “Commercial Cleaning For Beginners”. It walks you through everything from start to finish.

I have no info to send out concerning how to get started, the website itself is all the info you really need. If your seek detailed step by step instructions you should take a look at my course “Commercial Cleaning For Beginners” (http://wp.me/PO3Aj-43).

The course walks you through the entire process start to finish. It discusses how much you will earn, how to bid, how to keep customers happy and all the other details that go with running a cleaning business.

Yes… the course is geared primarily to commercial cleaning. It goes into great detail concerning how to master the commercial marketplace. With that said, the “principles” I teach work on both residential and commercial cleaning. In fact the principles will work in any service business whatsoever, as they are universal so to speak.

As to help after the purchase, I am ALWAYS available to help you out. All you need to do is email me whenever you run into trouble and I’ll do my best to point you in the right direction. Many people even call me for help after the buying the course. Like I tell everyone….if I’m in the office when you call, I’ll pick up the phone and talk. If I’m not there just leave a message and I’ll call you back.

Do you have a form on your site to give to prospective customers in which I can provide them with a quote. We received our first call. It is for a condo complex, all the common areas. Should be about 10 hours a week. We need a proposal or quote form.

Hi Tom! I am VERY interested in starting my own contract cleaning business within the next few weeks. I have a monthly marketing budget in the range of $600-$800 to get started. Does your course cover marketing in depth (who to market, what types of marketing works best, how to secure contracts quickly, etc.)? Besides your course, what would you recommend as a trusted source of information (or associations) for a new entrepreneur in the commercial cleaning industry?

Hi Tony! The marketing part is well covered. I talk about what worked for me and what didn’t. I also discuss who to market to in general as well as who is the BEST customer to go after (lots of regular PLUS bonus money with this group). To your second question… subscribe to Cleanfax Online (I get the magazine sent to me, so sign up for that). Lots of good info there! Check them out here… http://www.cleanfax.com/

Hey Tom! My name is quentin edwards/Facilities Maintenance Tech. I was curious to know some info about the cleaning business. i work for a company that hires a cleaning business to maintain our facilities. Mostly all coporate business have a budget to maintain. so my question is, how can i get my company to hire me to do the cleaning responsibilites for the facilities?

Hi Quentin! I would be asking the “higher ups” about that. Be honest and say you were thinking about branching out on your own down the road. I would think that it would be a tough road for you to get hired. They probably want experience (in running a company).

Generally you start out on smaller type properties THEN move up to larger corporate offices. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but it would be easier to start small then grow from there. With all that said, just ask the big bosses as they hold the answers.

I know of someone starting a cleaning business and is trying to create a business plan. How do we obtain financial information on other cleaning businesses to include in our plan? We are from Ohio…thanks!

Hi Sherah! Sorry for the delay, been on the road traveling with limited email. Anyway… I don’t know the answer to that one. I was never aware that creating a business plan requires you get financial data from competitors. That doesn’t seem like it’s achievable.

I would suggest that you take some rules of thumb for income and apply some projections based on HOW MANY accounts you think you could land in a given year. A house cleaning account may yield 100 per visit, with an average of each account being cleaned 2.5 times for month (to account for all the different varieties of accounts like weekly, bi-weekly and monthly). How many can you get per month, each and every month? That is the question to reach financial projections.

For commercial accounts this can vary greatly due to the various sizes of accounts. For small accounts (which is probably your market in the beginning) expect to bring in maybe 450 per month for each one you land. These numbers should help you reach some sense of a number that is worthy of being placed in a business plan projection.